Jeff Bezos Pays $165M For Beverly Hills Mansion, Sets LA Record

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos purchased the Warner Estate from media mogul David Geffen for $165 million, it was reported Thursday.

Wall Street Journal first reported the purchase, attributing their story to people familiar with the transaction. The sale is a new record for the Los Angeles area, breaking the previous residential real estate record which was set late last year when media executive Lachlan Murdoch paid about $150 million for Chartwell, a Bel-Air estate used as the Clampett residence in the television show "The Beverly Hillbillies."

The Warner Estate sits on 9 acres in Beverly Hills and was designed in the 1930s for Jack Warner, the late former president of entertainment giant Warner Bros. The property had expansive terraces, sprawling gardens, several guest houses, a tennis court and its own 9-hole golf course, the Wall Street Journal reported.

"No studio czar's residence, before or since, has ever surpassed in size, grandeur, or sheer glamour the Jack Warner Estate on Angelo Drive in Benedict Canyon," wrote veteran Los Angeles real-estate agent Jeff Hyland in his book, "The Legendary Estates of Beverly Hills."

"I would say it's one of the most beautiful properties in the world, let alone Los Angeles," local agent Kurt Rappaport told the Journal. No real-estate agents were involved in the transaction, a person familiar with the deal told the newspaper.

Geffen bought the property for $47.5 million in 1990, setting the then-record for a Los Angeles area home. He couldn't immediately be reached for comment, the Journal reported.

Bezos Expeditions, an umbrella company for various endeavors including Bezos's ownership of the Washington Post and his charitable foundation, also paid $90 million for a plot of undeveloped Los Angeles land, according to the person familiar with the deal, the Journal reported. The land was purchased "as an investment," that person said. The seller was the estate of Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder who died in 2018.

Earlier this year, Bezos purchased three New York apartments in a deal valued at around $80 million. If turned into a home, the three units at 212 Fifth Avenue would total over 17,000 square feet.

City News Service contributed to this post